M.I.A. Working on New Album, Designing Beer Labels

New album is apparently called Matangi

M.I.A. tells Spin that in addition to working on her fourth studio album, she's got a gig we might not have anticipated: custom-designing labels for bottles of Beck's beer. The German beer company reached out to her during her time in India, and she sent them back some of the art she'd been working on there, to be used on a series of limited-edition labels.

"Before, artists would struggle with the art and commerce thing, but now I think you have to have a certain conviction about your work and the canvas is irrelevant, you can put it on anything these days", she said. "Sitting down and having a drink, and having a little chat is a good thing, and that's what people tend to do, you know."

Spin also reports that M.I.A.'s finishing her new album inLondon and India right now, working with producers including Switch. They say the album is titled Matangi; M.I.A.'s birth name is Mathangi.